Moline Splits at Manual

From Argus-Dispatch.....

By Dan Tomlin, dtomlin@qconline.com

PEORIA – The Moline girls' basketball team thought it had thwarted Peoria High's attempt at a game-winning shot. After defending against a shot attempt by the Lions, the Maroons tied up the ball, but the possession arrow favored Peoria High. With the ball under the basket and just 2.4 seconds left, the Lions lobbed the ball in the lane where Jemia Carpenter leapt up, pulled it down and laid it in as time expired. Peoria took the win, 44-42. A frustrated and dejected Maroon group that won its opener over East Peoria earlier in the day will now be playing in the consolation bracket of the 33rd annual Manual Girls Holiday Basketball Tournament. What's amazing is that at halftime, the Lions didn't look like they could make a shot, trailing Moline 19-6. The second half was a different story, though, as they knocked down six 3s to erase the deficit and go on an 11-0 run to take the lead. Moline fought back and tied the game with a pair of free throws by Jordan de Los Reyes with 80 seconds left and Peoria High was content with holding for a final shot. After calling timeout with 13 seconds left, the Lions tried running a play, but Moline sniffed it out and caused the jump ball that eventually spelled their doom. "I thought we had them there at the end, I mean we didn't let them get a shot off," Moline coach Steve Ford said. "But to their credit they ran a great out of bounds play." Peoria High upped the tempo in the second half to try and change the momentum of the game and it worked. "They turned up the intensity and we didn't match it," Ford said. "We need to handle pressure better and value the possessions more. "We were matching them basket for basket but we couldn't get that final stop." For Moline (10-6), de Los Reyes ended with a game-high 18 and Tiana McCormick chipped in 8, but it wasn't enough to stop the ferocious Lions. In the opener, de Los Reyes scored 17 points, but it was Kylie Romeo's 11 in the fourth quarter, that led Moline over East Peoria, 47-34. The Maroons had just a 5-point lead heading into the fourth before Romeo, a senior guard, went to work. In a well-defended game, Moline didn't allow the Raiders a free throw attempt the entire game. Today, Moline plays one game, a consolation bracket semifinal against host Manual in hopes of playing for the consolation championship on Thursday against either Pekin or Limestone.